Monoecious Palm Prestoea decurrens on - International Palm Society

9961
ERVIK AND BERNAL: FLORAL BIOLOCY OF PRESTOEA DECURRENS
B9
Table 1. Visitors to the inf.orescences olf<strong>Prestoea</strong> <strong>decurrens</strong>. Relatiae abundances are indicated
as follows: aery common (***), con'nrlon (**), ur"o*rnon (*), and not obseraed ( ). Localities
at which the insects were obserued: A: El Amalgal, S : Sampichl. Insects obseraed on other hosts
were marked with a nurnber and letter (s : staminate, p : pistillate) referring to host plant
species and its phase. Cocos nucifera (1), Phytelephas seemannii (2) , WeIfra regia (3), Asplundia
sp. (4) , and Carludovica palmata (5) .
Order,/Family
Subfamily or tribe
Staminate
Phase
Pisti.
late
Other
Phase Locality Hosts *
Coleoptera
Chrysomelidae
Alticinae
Galerucinae
Curculionidae
Baridinae, Centrinini
Cholinae
Erirhininae, Derelomini
Staphylinidae
Aleocharinae
Brasilaphthona sp. 2
Near Centralaphthona sp. I
Near C. sp. 3
Hypolampsis sp. 3
Monolepta sp.
Bondariella sp. 3
Cholus cananchensis Heller
Phyllotrox sp. 27
P. sp. 28
Genus 2, sp. I
Amazoncharis?
A
S
S
A
A
S
A,S
S
* s
S
4s, 5s
5s
5s
Diptera
Cecidomyidae
Chloropidae
Drosophilidae
- Milichiidae
Mycetophilidae
Cecidomldae sp. I
C. sp. 2
C. sp. 3
Chloropidae sp. I
Drosophila sp.
Milichiidae sp. I
Mycetophilidae sp. I
S
s
S
A
S
A
S
Hymenoptera
Apidae
Meliponinae
Halictidae
Plebeia aff. minima (Gribodo)
Trigona spinipes
T. uilliana Friese
Dialictus sp.
Neocorynura sp.
Undet. sp. I
Undet. sp. 2
Undet. sp. 3
A,S
S
S
A,S
A,S
A,S
S
S
2s/p
Dempoda
Grapsidae
Sesarma cf. miersii Rathbun
S
of different degrees of development suggests that
this species flowers throughout the year, a fact
confirmed by G. Galeano (personal communication).
<strong>Prestoea</strong> <strong>decurrens</strong> is protandrous with no
overlap between staminate and pistillate phases.
All flowers are closed at the splitting of the bract
and no insects are present. This situation may last
for up to I d until 9:00 to ll:30 a.m. when the
first staminate flowers open and anthers dehisce
(Fig. 3). Individual staminate flowers are only at
anthesis for a few hours and abscise in the afternoon
the same day. The staminate phase of the
inflorescence lasts 18 d, with daily pulses of up
to I 000 flowers per inflorescence. Then there is
a pause lasting two days which is followed by a
pistillate phase seven days long. Pistillate flowers
also open between 9:00 and I l:30 a.m. The stigmas
remain humid and whitish-yellow for 2 d and
are probably receptive this long. On the 3rd d
they turn brownish, and the flowers either drop